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The cost of luxury seats, coupled with the declinein the economy meant a sea of empty seats in the first year at new Yankee Stadium. Next seasonsome of those seats will be priced less.

When ticket prices for new Yankee Stadium were released last year, to say that they were jaw-dropping in light of the chilly economy was an understatement – some over $2,500 a piece, even after a mid-season price cut (see seat counts and prices). The talking line from the Yankees was that it was well… the Yankees, fans would purchase tickets to attend games in the new $1.3 billion stadium.

With clubs beginning to get a jump on next season well before the current one ends, Darren Rovell of CNBC reports that some ticket prices will be lowered in 2010 at The House that George Built, while 80 percent will remain flat.

Some of the highest price seats will see reductions of up to 40 percent, including those in the Legends area and the Delta Sky 360 Suite. The first level of non-premium suites, which are one level up behind home plate, will be reduced from $325 to $250 or $235 per game per seat, depending on the location. To account for the challenging environment, the Yankees had already given some fans in these areas extra tickets to each game.

The report also outlines how the decreases will relate to those most expensive seats – the Legends suite seats, will be cut to $1,500 per game.

That means a person or company who agreed to buy the most expensive seats in the stadium on a 10-year contract was on the hook to pay $834,300 ($2,575 per game per seat for 81 games) for four suite tickets in 2010, but will now pay $486,000.

The main reason for the change? General partner Hal Steinbrenner reportedly “has been sensitive to the economy and to consumer response and will continue to review the prices on an ongoing basis.”